"KICKIN UP THE DUST"

[paul leverington]

Mark IV 600/4 1/1250@5.6 ISO 800 (Baited with beef stew meat--I have never used live bait)

This shot is a vignette of the total scene I was working with and only became a composition when he decided to land where he did. Given that there was a nice rounded stick ready with a snack, I wonder why he landed on these sharp ones instead. One of the things I worked on for this shot was to be below him looking up, while yet he is right over the ground. This was accomplished by being downhill of him, tripod and myself standing, with the lens I would say a good 8 feet below his altitude. The scene is actually on the downhill somewhat. This then also gives any snow a dark BG for which to stand out against, augmenting it's power, plus helps eliminate any ground based obstacles for clean controlled composition(behind the scene and over and past the crest of the hill). I took great care to line up areas in the bg forest where I could utilize lighter and darker regions for effect, and having those differences gave me options in composition over the many shooting compositions I tried this winter. The location was also established for distance to the BG to provide a good BG blur even at F8 if necessary. The sticks I had to hike out of the woods a mile and a half, cart them in my truck to my house, and after being prepped moved once again by truck to the shooting location and hiked in. They were selected for the unusual almost black color and sharp pointed ends. I felt that would work well with a cold unforgiving winters theme. A lot of work as some where very large. About six trips with a hired hand to help--I think we broke 75% of the pointed ends off before I got them to the shooting location. There were 44 of them-only a few of which are showing here. When I glued them to the base boards of plywood inside my living room it was quite a different home decorating look! My cats loved it--scratching posts everywhere! I found after a clean sawsall cut on the stumps polyurethane glue works real good to hold and seal the bottom of the stump to the plywood. I then seal the plywood so as to get a few years use out of them. It may be hard to see them but I placed dried oak branches that still had their leaves in the BG forest to add a touch of warmth which strengthens via a supporting subordinate color the powerful tail color.

I put a frame on this as someone mentioned once they could not see where the image started with a region of white snow against a white web page.

Paul

*Your comments, thoughts, and ideas are most welcome. That which doesn't kill me shall only make me a better picture taker!.

[Dave Leroy]

Boy! That vision and hard work certainly paid big dividends for you Paul.
The action is spot on.
I really think the sharp posts add a lot to the photo with the colour and matching the bird and angled like they are adds to the tenseness of the action.
The composition is just great. It is fun to look at.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Thank you for sharing the background story.
As mentioned, the sharp stick really add to background, like them very much and they definitely worth the effort. You did accomplish what you wanted with dark background and the white snow line composition, look very good to me. The landing pose also has nice wing and tail spread and the dust of snow compliment the landing well. I might try to sharpen the head a tiny bit or maybe lighten the eye just a tad.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Paul, this is just spectacular - it just stopped me in my tracks this morning. I love the contrast of the dark and the light, I love the curled wing tips and I love the shapes of the posts that contrast with the curves of the bird. And I am so impressed with what you did to set up the shot. Having read the current thread on the discussion forum about faking it in wildlife photography I really appreciate that you took the trouble to tell us how you achieved the shot.
I might back off on the border a little.
Best regards,
Nicki

[Mike Tracy]

Just woke up and am foggy headed so I will come back and give a more complete take why I like this later.

Two points that I notice that I would change if this was mine. 1. Do you have any more snow on the bottom ? Since you wanted to create a feeling of being below a tad more leading up to the perch area would reinforce that. 2. I find the line of snow on the stick running from his tail feather to the ground distracting.

[paul leverington]

Thanaboon--Thanks for your input. To let you know the eye was lightened and is more visible by far in the full size version. I think it's just too small here to see much detail. The sharpening has got me a bit thrown off right now on this new Mark IV. I was very much used to the settings for the mark III at 500-.2- 0 in unsharp mask for jpeg posting. I actually pulled off a lot thinking I would be oversharpening here but there was room for more. Lots of detail with the IV that I have not quite gotten used to yet.

Hi Niki--I'm so glad you liked the shot and you expressed that. I read that article too. I did the triple "D" thing once and got some nice3 staged shots of various animals. During some off time there was a woodpecker nest with babies going on right next to the pen area. Go figure you pay all that money and one of the greatest highlights was something natural and free! Anyways we were able to see the areas which all the cats lived when not out on shooting location. It wasn't much--and we all felt bad for them. It wasn't like out and out abuse or anything like that but you just knew the cats would wish to be free ranging.

Often I just go and watch this guy. He LOVES to fly! There is no question for me. any captive situation is a jail sentence in my mind. Even if the animal is injured and being used for "Education". I wonder what the message is sometimes and why is it that people know nothing about what's out there without having to learn from captives injured. And of what they do learn, what real value is the small amount and small perspective of it..

This guy ranges free, is very healthy and has been for the last ten years that I have been a friend to him, and has raised successful broods each year with his mate "Lady Hawk". Right now he's all messed up cause he has begun courtship again. Everything he gets for food he starts to call out to her and flies away to give it to her. Every year he once again has to show her he's up to the task. How lucky us guys are in only having to court once to secure our mates. Or maybe there's a good lesson here that we should periodically court our ladies all over again to show we are still interested. Hmmmmm......

Paul

[paul leverington]

Good morning Mike! Great observations. Yes I have lots of snow for in front of him and had to crop that off to get this the way it is. And it was rather a dilemma which way to go. In the end all that white got a little overbearing I thought so I went with the crop. I agree about the stick--not sure which way to go- maybe some lens blur. If I knew he was going to land here I think I would have pulled it. Kind of don't want to get into eliminating it but the more I look at it the more I see what you mean. Good spot on your part!

Paul

[Keith Bauer]

Paul: This looks like a magnificent painting to me. I'm not saying it doesn't look like a photograph, it just looks like everything was planned perfectly like a fine painting. The mood is fantastic, the wing position couldn't be better for me, the angle you chose to set up from added so much drama to the image. The snow coming up off the ground adds so much to the overall composition to keep my eyes flowing around the image. If this were mine (and oh how I wish it was), I'd print this really big and just sit back and admire it. A fantastic image.

[susanschermer]

Paul, I am in awe re: the effort and thought that was spent on this image. The payoff is an image worthy of hanging on the wall. You must enter it in Nature's Best or another competition. The environment, the perch, the snow, the dark BKGR and the pose all work together. Job well done.

[paul leverington]

Thank you Keith. Your absolutely dead on to blowing it up big and hanging it on a wall as this is usually my intention for everything from conception. I have that 9900 printer and love to run canvas through it. It would be fair to say that your comment that it looks like a planned painting is EXACTLY my approach in my compositions. The goal being a story that elevates the subject in some other view or way than the document photo would, or in ways that people usually think of our glorious wildlfe--that of on our dinner plates or at the side of the road in a magled heap.. Like a good novel, or a great moving symphony I suppose, if that can be achieved, a composed image, photo, or painting, can elevate the animal kingdom to something higher in status and value. . People love a good story--even if they know it's being embellished a little. Row, row, your boat...life is but a dream...is as good a way to put it as any.

Paul

[paul leverington]

Thank you Susan. I don't know much about contests, never had a big interest in them--but setups and baited shooting doesn't seem to work for them from what I gather.

Paul

[Fabs Forns]

Can I carry your bags in one of your outings???? :D

[D. Robert Franz]

Well thought out and executed!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Paul, the work and thought you put in into creating the BGs is something I have never seen anyone do. Incredible...just incredible. Love the way the bird is illuminated here. And of course all the other good things others have mentioned above.

[Don Anderson]

WoW.. as a former wildlife painter, now wildlife photographer, I always strived to get a background
that had a kind of watercolor look but the bird had to be sharp. This shot does both to
perfection. This is pure art and pure photography all in one shot. :D

[Markus Jais]

This is fantastic! Great wing pose, excellent exposure and wonderful action.
I love the snow!

Markus

[Bert De Tilly]

GREAT GREAT SHOT!!

[Jim Crosswell]

Paul this image is incredible! All the thought and planning and experience has come together to create a masterpiece.

[david cramer]

Really lovely image. I love the detailed feathering displayed here, as well as the "moment" you captured. The snow on the stick does not bother me, in fact it makes the scene look more natural. A tad more snow along the bottom crop would add balance. The frame really distracts. What about a simple 3 pixel stroke instead.

I'd be happy to aid Fabs in carrying your gear.

[paul leverington]

Really lovely image. I love the detailed feathering displayed here, as well as the "moment" you captured. The snow on the stick does not bother me, in fact it makes the scene look more natural. A tad more snow along the bottom crop would add balance. The frame really distracts. What about a simple 3 pixel stroke instead.

I'd be happy to aid Fabs in carrying your gear.


Dave how do you do that? Apply a stroke I mean? A better looking frame for the web I'm sure would be nicer too. Thanks for your comments. I also like to leave things in that may not be perfect to the conscious but certainly look correct to the subconscious. It just looks more like nature really is.

Looks like I can cancel that order I made for the Lamas!!:)

Paul

[Dominic Cantin]

WOW !! The most imressive RTH that I've seen to date !! Congrats Paul !

Dom :)

[arash_hazeghi]

This is an excellent shot by all accounts, pose does not get better than this

Do you mind posting a 100% crop from the sharpest area?

[paul leverington]

here's the area under the focus point--no sharpening applied.


Paul

[arash_hazeghi]

here's the area under the focus point--no sharpening applied.


Paul


Thanks a lot Paul, when you say no sharpening does that mean Lightroom/Adobe standard parameters with no additional sharpening or did you set the sharpening slider to zero?

So what is your take on MKIV AF? Doug's owl shot was excellent but this one doesn't seem to be very sharp?


Thanks again for the sample, BTW terrific landing pose and snow take this to the top.

Arash

[paul leverington]

I developed the shot in DPP with no sharpening and as posted here nothing was added in the edit process. Well I'm not sure my 600 is giving me all that it should. When I can get together with a friend of mine who has a new 600 and the IV, I will use his rig to shoot the same target, under the same conditions and see what I get. I would not be surprised if my 600 isn't delivering what it should. But this is not conclusive right now. I've always sensed the IV was tracking better than anything I know. But between whatever problem I was having with front focusing and was fixed when I sent my IV and 600 in for "adjustments"(have no idea what they actually did),, and micro adjustment inaccuracies,, it's been a struggle. I literally only had two days of shooting over the winter that the camera was giving me anything I could use. This image is one from the first of those two days.

One thing I am seeing that I can tell you for sure to watch for is if you track a subject in that is coming at you, or relatively so, the predictive servo will track ok enough--until that is till the subject slows to land, then the predictive algorithm keeps going, and does not react quick enough to the slow down and you loose the shot. Bumping and servo tracking right at the moment of the touch down or when you actually want your shot is the best I have been able to do.

I do not consider this shot to be as sharp as it should be, but just as of yet don't know what the problem is. I suspect the lens more than the camera for now--or maybe the predictive feature locked on but not perfectly for as you can see it's one of those landing events.

I'll let you know when I know more. Where's the sample of Dougs owl shot, or are you working off the posted jpg?

Paul

**EDIT: OK Arash--I see where Doug posted the 100 % crop of the owl further down on the thread. It is definitely sharper--I'll play with dpp and acr sharpening and see what kind of difference that brings to the table.

The other thing--which could be the problem--my shot was taken during snowing conditions 100 feet away. This ALWAYS softens the image. Dougs looks like it was taken in some very sweet late day light--which would give the AF every thing it needs for the best accuracy and give the cleanest contrast and detail. I should post some of the stills I have for all to look see also.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hey Paul will send you a PM.

Thanks


I developed the shot in DPP with no sharpening and as posted here nothing was added in the edit process. Well I'm not sure my 600 is giving me all that it should. When I can get together with a friend of mine who has a new 600 and the IV, I will use his rig to shoot the same target, under the same conditions and see what I get. I would not be surprised if my 600 isn't delivering what it should. But this is not conclusive right now. I've always sensed the IV was tracking better than anything I know. But between whatever problem I was having with front focusing and was fixed when I sent my IV and 600 in for "adjustments"(have no idea what they actually did),, and micro adjustment inaccuracies,, it's been a struggle. I literally only had two days of shooting over the winter that the camera was giving me anything I could use. This image is one from the first of those two days.

One thing I am seeing that I can tell you for sure to watch for is if you track a subject in that is coming at you, or relatively so, the predictive servo will track ok enough--until that is till the subject slows to land, then the predictive algorithm keeps going, and does not react quick enough to the slow down and you loose the shot. Bumping and servo tracking right at the moment of the touch down or when you actually want your shot is the best I have been able to do.

I do not consider this shot to be as sharp as it should be, but just as of yet don't know what the problem is. I suspect the lens more than the camera for now--or maybe the predictive feature locked on but not perfectly for as you can see it's one of those landing events.

I'll let you know when I know more. Where's the sample of Dougs owl shot, or are you working off the posted jpg?

Paul

**EDIT: OK Arash--I see where Doug posted the 100 % crop of the owl further down on the thread. It is definitely sharper--I'll play with dpp and acr sharpening and see what kind of difference that brings to the table.

The other thing--which could be the problem--my shot was taken during snowing conditions 100 feet away. This ALWAYS softens the image. Dougs looks like it was taken in some very sweet late day light--which would give the AF every thing it needs for the best accuracy and give the cleanest contrast and detail. I should post some of the stills I have for all to look see also.